Ferring Pharmaceuticals, GSN sign agreement to test Parental Support technology

Ferring Pharmaceuticals and Gene Security Network (GSN) announced that they have signed an agreement to conduct a clinical trial of GSN's advanced preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technology, Parental Support™.  The 11-center U.S. trial is designed to evaluate if GSN's PGD technology helps increase in vitro fertilization (IVF) success rates when using single cell embryo testing for an abnormal number of chromosomes, a condition called aneuploidy.  GSN's Parental Support technology is designed to help improve embryo selection during IVF procedures in order to increase the pregnancy rate following embryo transfer compared with IVF procedures without embryo PGD testing.  

"As the market leader in innovative infertility products, we are delighted to partner with GSN to help evaluate this unique product for the fertility medical community and patients," said Olivier Delannoy, Vice President, Infertility Business Unit at Ferring.  "GSN's technology is supported by impressive data, and may enable reproductive endocrinologists to achieve more accurate embryo selection, and hopefully lead to higher live birth rates.  We are hopeful that this upcoming clinical trial will support the positive early data generated for the PGD technology."  

"Our agreement with Ferring provides the framework for our testing technology to become state of the art treatment for infertility patients.  By using Parental Support to select embryos that have the best chance of developing into a healthy pregnancy, we hope to augment Ferring's drug therapy regimen and boost pregnancy rates," said Matthew Rabinowitz, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Gene Security Network.  "Our early data from 24-chromosome aneuploidy screening with Parental Support resulted in a 50 percent ongoing pregnancy rate for patients undergoing PGD, most of whom have had problems with previous IVF cycles.  We are looking forward to initiating the prospective randomized trial in May."

Under the terms of the agreement, every trial patient will exclusively use Ferring fertility products for their IVF cycle, receiving the medications at a discounted rate.  Ferring will also provide financial support and assistance in finalizing the trial protocol and monitoring the trial's progress, with the option to partner with GSN in distribution of Parental Support upon conclusion of the study.